FORT WAYNE, Ind. – The Loyola Wolf Pack volleyball team earned a ranked win on the first day of their season on Friday, defeating No. 21 Cornerstone University (Mich.), 3-2, in the second of two games at the Onset Invitational in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The Wolf Pack started the day against three-time defending NAIA Champions No. 3 Indiana Wesleyan, losing that matchup in three hard-fought sets. 
 

Loyola (1-1) returns to the court on Saturday against the University of Rio Grande (Ohio) and No. 17 Aquinas College (Mich.) at 7:30 a.m. CT and 11:45 a.m. CT, respectively. 
 

#3 Indiana Wesleyan 3, Loyola 0 [25-20, 25-21, 25-15]

The Wolf Pack started strong against the three-time defending NAIA champions, using kills by Isis Harink and Alexa Palmer to take an early 4-0 lead. Two more kills by Harink and another from Palmer made the lead 9-4 before Caroline McKinney found the floor two more times, 11-7. Olivia Smith got in on the action as well, 13-9, but IWU battled back to take a 15-14 lead. A combination of Smith, Palmer and McKinney put the Pack back in front, 18-17, as the game was also tied at 19-19. The Wildcats would take the 1-0 lead in the match by finishing the first set on a 6-1 run. 
 

Indiana Wesleyan got off to a good start in the second set, taking a 7-3 lead over the Wolf Pack. Loyola, however, tied the set at 11, 12 and 14 after Harink recorded a kill, a block and an ace. Mel Beachnau also recorded an attack during that stretch. The Wildcats, though, pulled back in front for good with a 7-0 run to help take the 2-0 lead in the match. 
 

IWU finished off the match after starting the third set with a 10-2 run. Two kills each by Harink and McKinney, as well as an ace from Smith, helped get Loyola back in it, 12-7, then a combined block by Beachnau and Palmer made it a four-point deficit, 13-9. Palmer and Beachnau found the floor one more time each, 17-12, before the Wildcats finished the match on an 8-3 run. 
 

Loyola 3, #21 Cornerstone (Mich.) 2 [25-22, 11-25, 18-25, 25-20, 15-10]

Cornerstone started the first set by taking a 5-2 lead, but the Pack hung around to keep the score close, 9-5. From there, Loyola won eight of the next nine points to go ahead 13-10 in the opening game. McKinney had an ace and a kill, Beachnau and Smith also found the floor on attacks, and Lola Blancher had two aces. Clarissa Dupree capped off a quick 3-0 run later in the set that featured kills from Harink and Smith, 18-13, and Dupree added another one a couple of points later, 20-15. McKinney recorded another ace en route to Loyola's first-set win. 
 

After losing back-to-back sets to fall behind 2-1 in the match, Loyola rallied to win the fourth and force a deciding fifth. In the fourth, attacks by Palmer, Harink and Smith, and an ace by Belén Puche Laguna helped bring the score to a 7-7 tie, then back-to-back kills by Beachnau put Loyola ahead 10-9. Trailing 18-14, Harink got on the service line and served five aces during a 10-0 run to take a 24-18 lead. Dupree had two kills during that stretch, and a service error by Cornerstone pushed the match to the fifth set. 
 

Kills by McKinney and Harink allowed the Wolf Pack to jump ahead 3-0 in the fifth set, and two kills each by McKinney and Dupree made it a 7-5 lead. Tied at 7-7, a kill by Dupree and a block by Beachnau and Palmer gave Loyola the lead for good. Beachnau and Palmer combined for another block, 12-8, then two kills by Caroline Beahm helped seal the win.
 

Pack Facts

• Isis Harink led the Wolf Pack with seven kills, three blocks and an ace in the season-opener against No. 3 Indiana Wesleyan. 

• Harink added five more aces to lead the team against Cornerstone. 

• Caroline McKinney started her collegiate career with an impressive .400 hit percentage on 15 attempts against No. 3 Indiana Wesleyan. She finished the first game with six kills, then added a team-high 12 kills in the win over Cornerstone.

• Belén Puche Laguna recorded her eighth career double-double in Loyola's win over Cornerstone, tallying a team-high 20 kills and 12 digs. In the first game, Puche added 15 assists and five digs. 

• As the team's libero, Lola Blancher led the team in both games in digs with 11 and 14, respectively. 

• The last time Loyola trailed 2-1 in the match and pulled out the win was Nov. 14, 2025, against Blue Mountain Christian.

• It was the Loyola program's second win over a ranked team in its last four matches. The Wolf Pack defeated No. 22 Mobile in the SSAC Championship title game on Nov. 15, 2025. The last four matches for the program have all come against ranked opponents, with the first two coming at the end of the 2025 season. Loyola is 2-2 in those matches. 

• The last time Loyola hit less than .150 and still won the match was a 3-0 win against Park Gilbert (.139) on Aug. 30, 2025. 

Subscribe to Pack Tracks, a Loyola Athletics Newsletter, for all of the latest information >> https://loyolawolfpack.com/subscribe.aspx. You can also keep up with the Pack by following Wolf Pack Athletics on Facebook at Facebook.com/LoyolaWolfPack, Twitter and Instagram @LoyolaWolfPack, and by checking out our website at LoyolaWolfPack.com.